Istanbul Backpacker

Hagia Sophia started showing signs of fatigue in 16th century. The building was extensively strengthened with the addition of structural supports to its exterior by the Ottoman architect Sinan, considered one of the world's first earthquake engineering and seismic retrofit projects. You can see the brown exterior columns of reinforcement structure supporting the orange-pink Hagia Sophia in the picture. Hagia Sophia , originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia .

St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral in Istanbul , originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia . St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral is the largest cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul, Turkey. It is located on Istiklal Avenue in the Taksim.

Mecidiyeköy Istanbul c. 1940 , originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia . Picnic in the flower fields at Mecidiyeköy, Istanbul circa 1940, a busy center today.